


the water's sweet but blood is thicker

by inkin_brushes



Series: Immortals (Vamp AU) [32]
Category: VIXX
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Biting, Blood Drinking, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-07
Updated: 2015-03-07
Packaged: 2018-05-27 11:25:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6282700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkin_brushes/pseuds/inkin_brushes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything has changed and yet so much has somehow also stayed remarkably the same.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the water's sweet but blood is thicker

The night air was warm, stiflingly so, against Taekwoon’s cool skin, the humidity thick and oppressive. He pressed his back against the cool brick of a building, resting, waiting. Hakyeon hovered near him, nearly vibrating with energy. His eyes were wild, movements sharp, jerky. 

They were in an alleyway, on a decent side of town. There were easier pickings by the nightclubs, but there were more hunters, too. Here it was quieter, but a few people were always wandering around after dark, and the lack of thumping music meant their heartbeats could be heard from farther away. 

“Taekwoon,” Hakyeon murmured, and his voice still sounded slightly off to Taekwoon’s ears. He’d get used to it though. Just like he’d get used to the lack of heartbeat. “I’m hungry.”

Taekwoon kept his face blank. “I know, that’s why we’re here.”

Hakyeon blinked up at him, very little comprehension in his eyes, and Taekwoon sighed, gently running a hand over Hakyeon’s hair. He was still high off the transformation, the magic, and the bloodlust had dug its claws in. Jaehwan had said he’d be fairly nonsensical for a few days, but that he’d come down. 

Taekwoon was looking forward to that, looking forward to having Hakyeon properly back. But he also knew Hakyeon, _his_ Hakyeon, was going to have a very hard time dealing with the happenings of the last few days. Dealing with the knowledge that he’d killed people. Maybe it was a blessing that for the first few feedings, vampires were too out of their minds to care about right and wrong. 

Hakyeon was muttering about _tired_ and _hungry_ , when he suddenly fell silent and still, and it was so jarring, to see him act so vampiric. Taekwoon could barely hear what had caused Hakyeon’s reaction — shoes scraping on pavement, a heart beating — and not for the first time, he wondered exactly how keen Hakyeon’s hearing had become. 

Hakyeon moved towards the mouth of the alleyway, the movement utterly animal, no sentient thought. He’d scented prey and his entire being revolved around it, around the need for blood. 

Before Hakyeon could step out onto the concrete and into the lamplight, thus blowing their cover, Taekwoon grabbed him, pulling Hakyeon back against his body, his front against Hakyeon’s back, an arm clamped like steel around Hakyeon’s narrow waist. Hakyeon struggled mindlessly, his eyes trained on the mouth of the alleyway, but he may as well have been a butterfly trapped between Taekwoon’s palms. Newborn vampire as he was, he couldn’t hope to overpower Taekwoon. It didn’t stop him from squirming, uncharacteristically quiet as he attempted to break free.

“Hungry,” he gasped, the sound barely audible. “Please, Taekwoon.”

“Ssh,” Taekwoon murmured. The sound of shoes on pavement was getting close, the heartbeat a drum in Taekwoon’s ears. “Soon now, but you need to be quiet.”

He edged silently to the edge of the alleyway, and Hakyeon obligingly fell silent, though not still. It was like he couldn’t help himself. Taekwoon could smell perfume.

Movement then, the woman was right there, scuttling past the mouth of the alleyway quickly, rightfully afraid. Taekwoon slipped forward smoothly, grabbing her forearm with the hand he wasn’t holding Hakyeon back with, and pulled her into the alleyway, into the darkness. She gave a soft cry, but she’d made the mistake of looking up at his face. A natural reaction, to attempt to see the danger, but when his eyes caught hers she fell silent, Taekwoon drawing her mind in.

He pressed her against the side of one of the buildings, carefully and effortlessly holding Hakyeon away despite his renewed wriggling and mantra of _hungry hungry hungry_. Taekwoon hadn’t broken eye contact with the woman, some part of his mind noting the wrinkles at the edges of her eyes, the grey in her hair. She stared back at him, the terror having fallen off her face for a slack calm. 

“I’m sorry,” Taekwoon murmured, gently touching her chin with his fingertips. Her mind was caught, and Taekwoon gave her a mental nudge, a soft suggestion. “May we bite you?”

She didn’t speak, but she nodded, and Taekwoon felt the barrier, the little crackle that hovered above every human’s skin, flicker out. That out of the way, he let himself fall, let his mind go quiet so he could pull hers in fully, feeling her consciousness straining towards his like there’d been a shift in gravity. He pulled, pulled, and he was getting flashes, flickers, of her life, her memories. He always hated this, wanted to shy away from it, but he let them fill him, let them leave her, and once he had it all, he jerked, their connection snapping like the delicate neck of a bird. And she was gone. 

Her face fell utterly slack, eyes going from enthralled to glazed, empty. Her heart pumped on, strong and steady, but Taekwoon had effectively destroyed her. So Hakyeon wouldn’t have to. 

Taekwoon let Hakyeon go, and Hakyeon darted forward with a whimper, his fangs already extended. He grabbed the woman by the shoulders, tugging her against him, and she went limply. Then he was burying his fangs in her neck deeply.

The smell of blood made Taekwoon’s own fangs slide out, but this was for Hakyeon. Taekwoon ran his hand over the back of Hakyeon’s head tenderly as he fed. He’d always hated feeding like this, hated killing, but something primal inside him felt contented, watching Hakyeon drink. It might have been because of the maker/child bond, or because of his protective instinct for Hakyeon, his love, or a mix of all of it. 

Hakyeon was making small little noises as he drank, and Taekwoon knew it was a relief, having the bloodlust retreat, the buzzing need satiated some. The woman’s heartbeat had slowed, and soon it stopped. Hakyeon kept drinking until her face was paper white, clutching her against himself desperately.

When he finally pulled off he seemed like he was resurfacing, a little. The woman was like a limp doll in his arms, and he carefully set her down on the pavement. After a moment, he slid her eyes closed. 

“Hakyeon,” Taekwoon said, unable to see Hakyeon’s face, to read the emotion in his hunched shoulders.

Hakyeon stood. He weaved a little as he did so. “‘M tired,” he mumbled, turning towards Taekwoon so he could lean against his chest. “Can we go home, or do you need to feed?”

That was the longest sentence he’d spoken in the last few days, and Taekwoon felt a lump rise into his throat. “We can go home, dearest.”

Hakyeon cracked a wide yawn, his fangs retracted, though there was still blood between his teeth. Dawn was hours off yet, but newborns needed two things in abundance after being turned: blood and sleep. Jaehwan said it was all Wonshik did immediately after being turned, and vaguely, Taekwoon remembered being in a similar state.

It was very surreal, to see the little flickers of Hakyeon, his real personality, interposed with the madness of the bloodlust. It was also odd just to see Hakyeon— well, Hakyeon as a vampire at all. The blood and the fangs and the voice, the oily movements and icy skin. 

Hakyeon was blinking sleepily at him, so Taekwoon shook himself, leading the way home. Hakyeon moved along beside him naturally, even tired as he was, flickering from shadow to shadow with ease. They reached their little alleyway, and Hakyeon opened the grate without needing to be told, slipping down into the tunnels. 

As they flit through the pitch blackness of the underground, Taekwoon wanted to ask Hakyeon if he was— well, if he was back, for the moment. But he figured if Hakyeon _was_ finally himself again, and he hadn’t said so, then he probably wasn’t up for talking. So Taekwoon kept silent, knowing Hakyeon had a lot of things to think over, cope with. This process was never going to be easy.

Once back in the apartment, Hakyeon barely managed to get his shoes off before he was flopping into bed, movements lethargic as his eyes fluttered shut. Taekwoon sighed fondly, stripping him out of his jeans efficiently and then bringing the blanket up over him. There was red at the corners of Hakyeon’s mouth, and Taekwoon gently wiped it away with his fingertips.

Hakyeon smiled, soft, gentle, and Taekwoon felt warmth spreading through him. “I love you,” Hakyeon whispered. 

“I love you too,” Taekwoon replied, pulling back. “Rest, dearest.”

He didn’t think Hakyeon heard him, seemed to already be asleep, chest silent and still. Even though dawn was hours off, Taekwoon slipped in beside him, gathering Hakyeon close and burying his face in his hair. The scent of human was gone from him, the thick, electric smell of his wards faded to be replaced with the subtle cloying scent of vampiric magic. 

But he still smelled like Hakyeon, somehow. And that was enough for Taekwoon.

——

The sun was gone. Hakyeon jolted awake, mind full of the knowledge that it was deep into the night. He blinked at their ceiling, taking a moment to inhale deeply, smelling the softness of laundry detergent and warm skin, and marvelled at how clear headed he felt. His tongue poked out, running over his currently blunt canines. He was hungry, but it was nothing more than a whisper at the back of his mind. 

The shower was on. Hakyeon sat up, calling out softly, “Taekwoon?” The bathroom door was cracked open, gentle plumes of steam wafting out, and after a beat the shower shut off. In the silence that followed, Hakyeon remembered the previous night, remembered feeding, and he mentally shied away from the thought, trying instead to focus on his fractured memories of Taekwoon, Taekwoon leading him through the darkness, Taekwoon tucking him in, hands ever gentle. Hakyeon swallowed thickly, his own hands clenching in the bed sheets.

Then the bathroom door was opening and Taekwoon was stepping out, his hair slicked back with water, towel around his waist. He strode quickly to the side of the bed, kneeling next to it. His face was blank, and he stared at Hakyeon searchingly. He smelled clean, like soap and dampness and skin, which wasn’t something Hakyeon had ever been able to truly detect as a human. Hakyeon didn’t know what to say, he and Taekwoon hadn’t been apart these last few days, but Hakyeon felt as if he’d gone on a long trip and was coming back battered and bruised and someone new entirely. He supposed in a way that wasn’t wholly untrue.

In the end he simply reached out, hands grabbing at Taekwoon’s shoulders as he slipped off the bed and against Taekwoon’s chest. He felt exhausted, and he was a little limp as he flopped onto the floor, leaning against Taekwoon heavily, taking a good chunk of the blankets with him. Taekwoon gathered him close, falling back so he could sit and pull Hakyeon into his lap. He was still a little sticky from dampness, but Hakyeon didn’t care, pressing his face into the crook of Taekwoon’s shoulder. 

They sat in silence for several long moments, neither of them moving nor breathing. Hakyeon took comfort in Taekwoon’s prescence, and also in this strange, new crackle of energy between them, that Hakyeon supposed was their new bond. 

“Hakyeon?” Taekwoon finally murmured, his breath ruffling Hakyeon’s hair. 

Hakyeon shook his head slightly, his lips skimming over Taekwoon’s skin. “I can’t—” He stopped, not sure how to finish that thought.

Another pause. “It’s alright,” Taekwoon whispered, “you just— whatever you need, you don’t owe me conversation or explanations. I know this can be hard to adjust to, to cope with.”

Hakyeon blinked rapidly, because he felt his eyes prickling. “I keep wondering what their names were,” he admitted in a whisper, “or if they had family, lovers, who are mourning them—”

“Do not torment yourself like this, Hakyeon,” Taekwoon murmured. His hand came up to gently cup the back of Hakyeon’s head, thumb rubbing soothingly. “All humans are mortal, their lives will come to an end regardless, and we led them into the darkness quietly and painlessly. That is all we can do.”

It didn’t sound so bad, when put like that. Hakyeon sniffled. His mouth still tasted like blood. “You’re right,” Hakyeon said thickly, “like usual. It just— I really hate this.” He pulled back enough to look at Taekwoon’s face. 

Taekwoon was frowning slightly. “It cannot be undone.”

“I know,” Hakyeon murmured, a smile threatening to curl the edges of his mouth despite his melancholy mood, “I don’t think I should have remained human, I just— do not enjoy this aspect of vampirism.”

“Nor I,” Taekwoon said simply. He carefully brushed a lock of Hakyeon’s hair out of his face and sighed.

“Is it weird?” Hakyeon asked. “Me as a vampire?”

Taekwoon took a moment to think about it. “It is odd,” he admitted, “not in a bad way, and I think I have adjusted quite a bit since you first awoke thus.”

Hakyeon tried to think back to that night and piece together how long it had been since, and he found everything was too fractured and jumbled for him to grasp it. “How long has it been?”

“Four nights,” Taekwoon replied. “You seemed to resurface a few times, but you were always so exhausted, so after feeding you would simply sleep, and then you never awoke as yourself.” He looked away, his lashes lowering over his eyes. “I missed you.”

Some of the tension within Hakyeon eased. “Thank you,” he said softly, “for taking care of me, for everything. I owe you so much.”

“Mm.” Taekwoon fidgeted with the edge of Hakyeon’s sleep shirt. “We will need to go out soon, you need to eat.”

Part of Hakyeon recoiled from that, but a primal part of him was thrown back to last night’s feeding, to the taste of blood in his mouth, and he found his fangs extending without his permission. His upper lip curled, and he touched the tip of his tongue to one of his fangs. It was a strange sensation, having his own. “This is so fucked up,” Hakyeon muttered, wondering how his life had come to this.

Taekwoon leaned forward, kissing Hakyeon’s mouth softly. Hakyeon fought not to sigh. Yes. That was how. 

“I think you’re a very striking vampire,” Taekwoon said against Hakyeon’s mouth. “You fill the mold very well.”

This time Hakyeon couldn’t hold his sigh in. “Flattery won’t make this any easier,” Hakyeon muttered, turning his face away. “Get dressed, and we’ll go.”

——

“I’m fairly certain you have looked in every room of note, love,” Jaehwan said idly, picking at a bit of peeling wallpaper from the hallway wall. 

Sanghyuk shut the door to the bedroom he’d been peering into, prowling away agitatedly further down the hall, into the depths of Jaehwan’s house. “Why is this place so huge?” Sanghyuk asked, shooting a glance at Jaehwan, trailing a few paces behind him.

Jaehwan gave a one-shouldered shrug. “It was not my master who built it. He purchased it from another.” He gave Sanghyuk a toothy grin. “Perhaps a nest used to reside here.”

Sanghyuk shivered. He didn’t like that thought, and to cover up his unease he opened up the nearest door, poking his head in and pointing his flashlight into the darkness. It was another bedroom, the furniture all covered in sheets. “Are most of the rooms out here just— just unused bedrooms?” Sanghyuk asked. Pretty much every room he’d stuck his head in was just that. 

“Yes,” Jaehwan said, cocking an eyebrow.

Sanghyuk _harrumphed_. He’d hoped that maybe he’d find some hidden gems in this underground labyrinth. As if Jaehwan or his master would have left some scepter of death and magic and sorcery lying around. As if. 

He bit his bottom lip, feeling agitation prickle under his skin, settling between his shoulders and making him shrug them a little to get the energy out some.

“What were you expecting to find?” Jaehwan asked, nearly drawling it as Sanghyuk resumed prowling down the hallway. 

“I don’t know,” Sanghyuk said, opening another door to reveal, surprise, yet another vacated bedroom. “Something exciting.”

“I can show you the cursed human head again, if you like,” Jaehwan offered.

“I’ll pass,” Sanghyuk said, somewhat surly. For all that Jaehwan’s house was tackily decorated, grotesquely vampire in every way, Sanghyuk had expected, well, _more_. He stomped down the hallway, bypassing door after door, and Jaehwan floated lightly behind him, seeming equal parts amused and exasperated. 

“You seem tense, love,” Jaehwan said, and suddenly there were warm fingertips running through the hair at the nape of Sanghyuk’s neck. “Anything I can help you with?”

Sanghyuk growled a little, shaking Jaehwan’s hand off and stalking away. “I’m antsy over Hakyeon.”

Behind him, Jaehwan sighed heavily like a man truly martyred. “Are we really going to go through this again?”

“I just wanted to _see_ him,” Sanghyuk grumbled, aware he was being foolish and not caring. He had not at all appreciated being swept away before he’d been able to see Hakyeon as a vampire, and now the bloodlust had taken hold of Hakyeon so it would be weeks until Sanghyuk could next see him, speak to him. Sanghyuk was just anxious over the whole thing, and Jaehwan meddling without permission didn’t help.

“He would have ripped you open like a rabid dog,” Jaehwan said, and Sanghyuk glared at him. “It’s true, love. I don’t have the words to explain the bloodlust, or the way the scent of a human pulls at us, the sound of your heart, the blood whispering under your skin. For a new vampire, it’s unresistable.”

The thought that he would, henceforth, be a _temptation_ to Hakyeon made Sanghyuk blush and, oddly, feel a little filthy. He wondered if Wonshik felt that way too. 

“I could have zapped him,” Sanghyuk muttered. “He’s not an Elimia, he’s not immune to my wards, not like you. I _can_ handle myself, Jaehwan. You can’t come swooping in whenever you see fit, I don’t like it nor want it. So quit meddling.”

When Jaehwan didn’t reply, Sanghyuk turned to look at his face. Jaehwan’s expression was mildly indulgent, his eyebrows slightly raised expectantly. “Well?” Sanghyuk prompted.

“Well what?” Jaehwan asked, one eyebrow arching. 

“Are you going to agree to stop sticking your overlarge nose in my business?” Sanghyuk snapped.

Jaehwan snorted. “I will do no such thing.”

Sanghyuk took a brief second to pray for patience. “Will you at least apologize for being a controlling asshole?”

“I’d rather eat a sock,” Jaehwan said flatly. “I’ll suck you off to ease the bruising my meddling has apparently caused to your inflated ego, but I shan’t apologize about any measures I have, or will in the future, employ to ensure your safety, love.”

“ _My_ ego is inflated?” Sanghyuk asked, voice indignant. Jaehwan flashed him a brilliant smile in reply, so Sanghyuk shone his flashlight right into Jaehwan’s eyes. “Fuck, I hate you.”

“No, you don’t,” Jaehwan said, nearly sing-song as he squinted, “if you did, you wouldn’t be seeking refuge in the gloriousness of my company.”

“I don’t have a choice,” Sanghyuk said sourly, once again pointing his flashlight at the ground so he could see where he was going. He worked with most of his friends, and the result was that by the time their shifts were over they were fairly sick of each others’ faces. It wasn’t like he could talk to them about Hakyeon turning anyway. And then Wonshik and Hongbin spent a good portion of the night hunting, and Sanghyuk couldn’t join in on that for all the obvious reasons. His only other friend was Hakyeon, and, well, that wasn’t an option either. And he was just too anxious to be idling away at home these days.

Sanghyuk huffed out a breath in frustration and paused in his walking to take in his surroundings. They were very far into what Sanghyuk thought was the west wing. He got the impression that no one had been in this part of the house for a very long time. The carpet was covered in a layer of dust that made the colors look quite faded, and there were strandy cobwebs in the corners of the ceiling. Jaehwan, too, seemed to only just realize where they were. He didn’t look happy about it. That made Sanghyuk want to snoop more just to spite him. On impulse, Sanghyuk peeked into the nearest room, and found it utterly empty. 

“There’s nothing back here,” Jaehwan said in explanation. And yet, there was something in his voice that belied his words.

Sanghyuk grunted in response, and continued down the hall anyway, turning around a corner and kicking up dust as he went. There were fewer doors out here, and many of them were open already, showing dark, empty rooms. It was downright spooky. Maybe there was a chamber of horrors around here, or a taxidermy lab. Sanghyuk supposed those two things would sort of be one and the same.

When they turned another corner, Jaehwan caught up to Sanghyuk, striding beside him, and now he seemed _very_ determined to deter Sanghyuk from going any further. “Really, Sanghyuk,” Jaehwan said, “there’s a room down in the south hall that my master used as a storage room— it doesn't have anything too thrilling in it—”

“No more severed human heads?” Sanghyuk asked idly, as he noted that they’d come upon a long section of hallway without any doors at all. 

“No, but there are some artifacts that you might find worthy of examining,” Jaehwan said, clearly trying to tantalize Sanghyuk’s curiosity.

“Like what?” Sanghyuk asked, not caring overmuch what Jaehwan’s answer was. They’d finally reached another door, and Sanghyuk stopped in front of it, eyeing it curiously. It was a little larger than the other bedroom doors had been, and had more carvings on it.

Jaehwan looked at the door as well, but where Sanghyuk was curious, Jaehwan seemed apprehensive. “There’s a— a staff that— well, it belonged to this sorcerer in the thirteenth century— come, I will tell you about it as we walk.” 

Jaehwan moved to turn back, but Sanghyuk was already reaching for the handle of the door, having barely even heard what Jaehwan was speaking about. But then Jaehwan’s hand was there, holding the handle still. Sanghyuk looked at Jaehwan’s face, suddenly very close to his own. 

“What’s in this room?” Sanghyuk whispered.

Jaehwan’s gaze bore into him. “Nothing at all exciting,” he said flatly. 

“Is this your torture chamber?” Sanghyuk said, trying to dispel some of the sudden tension in the air. Now he was _really_ curious. 

“Yes, it’s where I keep nosy, annoying humans,” Jaehwan said, and despite the fact that he was clearly joking, his face and tone were solemn. 

A thought occurred to Sanghyuk. “Is this— is this Hongbin’s feeding room?” He would have thought it would be somewhere nearer to the front of the house, but maybe—

Jaehwan looked genuinely surprised, and said, “No.”

“Then— then what?” Sanghyuk asked, experimentally touching the back of Jaehwan’s hand with his fingertips. 

After a moment, Jaehwan sighed, and it was less of a sound and more of just a feeling, and then he pulled his hand off the knob. Afraid he might change his mind, Sanghyuk immediately grasped the handle and turned, pushing the door open and shining his light inside the room.

The first thing Sanghyuk noticed was that this room was much more spacious than the previous ones he’d gone snooping in, and the second thing he noticed was that it was not, in fact, a torture room, nor were there any hapless humans trapped inside. It appeared to be a gathering room of some sort. There were large couches and lounge chairs set up, covered by white sheets, as well as low tables, equally obscured. In the far, back corner of the room sat what Sanghyuk thought was a large piano. 

“Uh?” Sanghyuk said, clearly baffled. There wasn’t anything in this room worth hiding. Had Jaehwan gotten it mixed up with another room?

Sanghyuk looked back at Jaehwan to see that Jaehwan had a sort of frozen, arrested look on his face, but he shuttered it quickly. Neutrally, he said in a murmur, “We used to host company here.”

Sanghyuk took that _we_ to mean his maker and himself. “Can I— ?” He motioned into the room, and Jaehwan nodded stiffly. 

His footsteps echoed on the marble as he tentatively stepped into the room, shining his flashlight around. Jaehwan lingered in the doorway, eyes focused far away. 

“What kind of company would you have?” Sanghyuk asked to fill the silence while he tried to figure out what, exactly, had Jaehwan acting so weird. 

“Hmm?” Jaehwan said, clearly having been snapped out of his thoughts. 

Sanghyuk stepped past the couches, until he was beside the behemoth that did, in fact, turn out to be a piano covered in a large, heavy sheet. “I asked what kind of company you and your maker would entertain here.”

“Oh, just friends of my maker’s,” Jaehwan said idly, but it sounded _weird_. Sanghyuk reached for the sheet, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Jaehwan begin to walk across the room towards him, human speed. Sanghyuk paid him no mind, pulling the sheet up and over, so the front of the piano was uncovered, gleaming dark wood. 

Then Jaehwan was by his side, so close Sanghyuk could almost feel his warmth. “Do you play?” Sanghyuk asked, looking up at him curiously. 

Jaehwan was looking at the piano. “No.” 

“Oh,” Sanghyuk said, a little disappointed. He turned back to the piano and lifted the keyboard cover to reveal polished ivory and black keys. “I can't either.” 

“I used to,” Jaehwan said, tone oddly breathless as Sanghyuk stuck a finger out to plunk on one of the keys. The piano emitted a clear, high note that echoed hauntingly around the room.

Sanghyuk pulled his hand back, slightly unnerved. “Used to?” he asked. “Why don’t you do it anymore?”

Jaehwan didn’t answer, instead he reached out, hesitant, and lightly touched the same key Sanghyuk had just pressed.

Sanghyuk watched him, captivated by the expression on Jaehwan’s features. He couldn't pin it down exactly, but it was unnerving, and caused a vague ache in Sanghyuk’s chest. “Will you play me something? I’d like to see you play,” Sanghyuk said, and Jaehwan looked away from the keyboard to stare blankly at Sanghyuk, like he wasn’t really seeing him. “Jaehwan?”

“No,” Jaehwan said, and his voice came out a little scratchy. He looked away from Sanghyuk and briskly replaced the cover over the keys, and then moved the sheet back so it was covering the piano fully once more. 

The tension was so thick in the air Sanghyuk could almost feel it crackling around him. “Are you that bad at it?” he said lightly, hoping Jaehwan would follow his lead. Jaehwan glared at him, which was nice, closer to normal Jaehwan behavior, and placed a hand on the small of Sanghyuk’s back, gently guiding him toward the door. “Maybe another time?”

“No,” Jaehwan said again, and then he was nudging Sanghyuk through the doorway. He grasped the door handle and paused, staring into the room for a moment that stretched on and on.

“Not even just for me?” Sanghyuk ventured. He touched Jaehwan’s shoulder lightly. “If you’re really bad at it, I won’t tell Wonshik.”

“Not even for you, love,” Jaehwan whispered. He shut the door and it made no sound as it latched. “Not even for you.”

Sanghyuk knew his bewilderment was showing all over his face. “You’re acting weird,” he mumbled. 

Jaehwan slid him a slight glare. “Come on, let’s go back to the main part of the house.” He looked Sanghyuk up and down and clicked his tongue disapprovingly. “Because you had to _insist_ we come all the way back here, you’re all dusty and I’m all dusty and we’re going to end up tramping grime all over the nice clean part of the carpet.”

Sanghyuk scowled. “You know,” he said, “I think I’ll take you up on that offer to suck my dick, because at least when you’re doing that you can’t fucking talk.”

“Not here,” Jaehwan said mildly, “I’ll get even dustier if I get on my knees here.” Unexpectedly, he grabbed Sanghyuk’s hand, tugging him along the hall. After a moment Sanghyuk curled his fingers around Jaehwan’s.

When they turned the corner, Sanghyuk tossed one last glimpse over his shoulder at the doorway to the mysterious room with the piano. “I do want to hear you play at some point though,” Sanghyuk said, ever stubborn, before turning to face forward so he could keep up with Jaehwan’s pace. 

Jaehwan gave a sort of noncommittal grunt. “Maybe, if you pester me for the next few centuries.”

“I don’t have centuries, Jaehwan,” Sanghyuk pointed out. “I’ll be dead in a few decades.”

Jaehwan didn’t reply to that, but his fingers tightened around Sanghyuk’s for a brief moment, before he dropped Sanghyuk’s hand. 

——

Hakyeon told himself that crying would simply waste all the blood he’d just drunk, and yet he couldn’t seem to stop.


End file.
